Ponyo is Studio Ghibli's unique take on The Little Mermaid. Ponyo leaves home to visit the surface world, and she's quickly picked up by Sosuke, who she quickly grows to love. By using her father's power, Ponyo takes on the appearance of a little girl and returns to Sosuke to spend more time with him.
The two develop a strong bond, and after a test of Sosuke's love, Ponyo can stay on the surface as a human girl. It's an endearing version of the classic fairy tale, with impressive visuals to go along with it. However, like most fairy tales, there are a few elements that don't make much sense.
10 All Of Ponyo's Siblings Look The Same
It's natural for siblings to look alike, but every single one of Ponyo's siblings looks the same. Although it is probably the film's way of making it easier for the viewers to tell which fish are related to Ponyo, it robs them of any identity outside of that. It raises the question of how Fujimoto and Granmamare can recognize which child is which, but it certainly must have taken a long time to come up with names for all of them.
9 Lisa Drives Like A Maniac
Despite having a five-year-old child as a passenger, Lisa's driving is worse than Chihiro's parents in Spirited Away.
While Chihiro's father was speeding down an unpaved road, Lisa manages to be even more of a driving menace by speeding down a winding road next to a cliff, taking turns so sharp that the vehicle even tilts so that its weight is on two of the car's tires. She does tell Sosuke to put on his seatbelt, but only after she's halfway to her destination.
8 Lisa Is Consistently Late For Work
Most workplaces stress the importance of arriving to work on time. However, when Lisa arrives at the Senior Center, the first thing she does when she gets out of the car is to apologize for being late. Surprisingly enough, her coworkers don't seem to mind, although that may be due to her work ethic, which is much better than her driving. Regardless, it's still a surprise that she still has that job, if this really is a regular occurrence.
7 Everyone Thinks Ponyo Is A Goldfish
For some reason, everyone was convinced at the beginning of the film that Ponyo was a goldfish. Sosuke and his friend Kimiko automatically recognize Ponyo as a goldfish, and Lisa is convinced as well. The only person who realizes that Ponyo isn't a goldfish is a woman at the senior center, Toki. She is quick to realize that Ponyo has a human-like face and panics, but no one seems actually to take her seriously even though she is right.
6 Fujimoto Never Fixes The Door To The Well
When Fujimoto first visits the well, he notes that the door still doesn't fit right, meaning that he knew for a while that the door needed to be repaired, but he never fixed it. To make matters worse, he then admits to realizing that anything that got near the well would risk ruining the world's balance. He eventually leaves after pouring something down the well, and he still doesn't fix the door for some reason, even though he knew it would cause problems.
5 Driving Home During A Flood
When the roads started to flood, Lisa is stopped by a couple of men, who tell her that the leeward side of the area was safer. The drive to her house would be too risky. Naturally, Lisa decides that she would rather risk her and her son's lives by driving to her house anyway, speeding in an attempt to outrun the flood. She decides to go back to the Senior Center a little later anyway, so it would have been much easier if she didn't make the drive in the first place.
4 Lisa Leaves Sosuke And Ponyo Alone
Lisa is so worried about the seniors at the Senior Center that she decides to leave two children alone in the house. Before leaving, she turns to Sosuke and tells him that although he is only five years old, he is very smart, which is why she is leaving him and Ponyo to fend for themselves. However, it seems that she had forgotten that Sosuke nearly drowned when he first lost Ponyo, making Lisa's point moot.
3 Granmamare Is Willing To Risk Ponyo Turning Into Sea Foam
For Ponyo to remain human forever, Sosuke has to promise to love her forever. If he doesn't love her, then Ponyo would turn into sea foam. Although Fujimoto may seem like an antagonist throughout the movie because he keeps trying to bring Ponyo home, he reacts like a good parent would, worrying about Sosuke's test result.
However, Granmamare seems perfectly calm, stating that if her daughter did turn into sea foam, it's alright since everyone starts as sea foam from the beginning.
2 The Adults Handle The Magical Events Too Well
Like in many Studio Ghibli movies, the adults seem unfazed by the magical events happening in front of them. When Ponyo's features become chicken-like, and she runs across the water to cure a baby's cold, the parents don't react very strongly, just laughing and looking delighted. This isn't the first time Ponyo has taken on this appearance in front of a human adult before, but no one ever questions how she can use magic.
1 Declaring Love Brings Balance To Nature
Definitely a fairy tale trope, Granmamare states that the only way to bring balance to nature is through Sosuke declaring his love to Ponyo. The moment Sosuke passes his test, Granmamare declares that all of the problems have been solved, and everything immediately turns back to normal. Considering the heavy flooding and the fact that the moon is far too close to the Earth, it's odd that a few words were able to fix potentially world-ending problems.